The case is the second acquisition of a digital map company to receive EU clearance this year. The commission approved plans by TomTom, Europe's biggest maker of car-navigation devices, to buy Tele AtlasNV on May 14.

"Navteq will play a key role in our Internet services strategy," Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia's president and chief executive, said in a statement.

The European competition authority concluded that Navteq-Nokia merger would not have any negative impact in Europe. Because of Tele Atlas, Navteq-Noqia merger would not gain monopoly over map database industry in Europe. Nokia-Navteq would not shut down supply of such databases to competitors because the loss made in sales of maps can not be offset by sales of mobile phones.